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About Oregon daily emerald. (Eugene, Or.) 1920-2012 | View Entire Issue (Nov. 9, 1984)
Come in for our Happy Hour 5pm - 8pm and all day Sunday 1 lam-Midnite! 2 FREE TOKENS (with minimum $1 purchase) 880 East 13th • 345*5566 Nina’s Submarine Sandwiches Some call them "Hoagies" They Are Different! DELICIOUS, JUICY & REFRESHING SUBMARINE SANDWICHES! Daily Specials featuring Spaghetti & Meatballs with Garlic Bread & Salad always only *325 Hamburger, Fries & Drink always only ^ 1 ALSO Soups • Salads • Sauerkraut • Potato Salad Burgers • Fries • Hotdogs • German Breads "WIR SPRECHEN DEUTSCH" 510 E. Broadway (across from Dunkin Donuts) Plenty of Free Parking Mon.-Sat. 10am - 9pm Orders To Go! 343-6235 Good Food • Quick Service • Homey Atmosphere ■UO Bookstore— ENGLISH CREEK by Ivan Doig NOW AT THE UO BOOKSTORE This luminously American novel is a portrait of a time and place — Montana in the 1920’s — full of people, incident, and warmth. Follow ing his now classic book about Montana, This House of Sku, and his highly successful first novel, The Sea Runners, English Creek places Ivan Doig alongside such writers of the American West as Wallace Stegner, Paul Horgan, and Willa Cather. ^ j g gg • 10% Discount with your current UO I.D. UO BOOKSTIMHE 13th & Kincaid M-F 7:30-5:30 SAT 10:00-3:00 Supplies 686-4331 Cinema Breaking Hollywood's barriers Robert Townsend is a con temporary success story. After a moderately successful stage career and national tours as a stand-up comedian, Town send has finally received due recognition from critics and members of the film industry for his second film, A Soldier’s Story. Townsend plays Corporal Ellis in the film, which is a cur rent critical and popular hit. In a phone interview a con genial and friendly Townsend was willing to talk about one of the Hollywood film industry’s Lunch Special Sushi or Dim Sum Now Available: Won Ton Noodle Soup And Try Us For Dinner china iy BLUE JEMr Restaurant U 879 E. 13th. 343-2832 Restaurant Szechuan/Hunan Stir-Fry Cooking QUICK LUNCH 11:30AM-2PM MON-FRI. COMBINATION PLATE (Choose from 10 items) 2 items.$2.00 3 items.$2.50 343-5866 • 786 E. 11th St. (Next to Mayflower Theater) most serious problems: the at titude of Hollywood bureaucracy in dealing with black performers. “I’d call it racist,” he said. The common practice in Hollywood is to cast blacks only in parts specifically written for blacks. “A lot of times they just say ‘Well, we need one black.' and it’s written in the script ‘Black Guy,’ ” he says. “He never has a name, it’s just ‘Black Guy.’ “ Townsend is more than slightly critical of that standard Hollywood pro cedure. The situation he describes is something of a Catch-22 — the parts open to black actors are often stereotyped por trayals, like muggers, pimps and junkies. After a few appearances in roles like these, actors are typecast: when desirable roles do come along, they are overlooked. ) a vc L/v-ui* »i/i y tive,” says Townsend. “I don t do just anything. 1 do a job and I save my money and when another role conies along, if 1 like the role I take it.” Townsend’s first role came in Walter Hill's Streets of Fire, where he played a singer in a vocal group called the Sorels. It was a relatively minor role, but the exposure may have led to his part in Norman Jewison’s A Soldier’s Story. “I was on the road and when I came back to town the play (A Soldier’s Story) was going on. I had no idea I would do the movie. 1 heard they were doing auditions for the movie and 1 thought ‘Ahh, they’re probably going to use the guys from the play,’ and the next thing you know they say ‘Robert, do you want to do it?’ ” he says. “And I said, ‘Yes.’ ” A Soldier Story, being a drama with a nearly all-black cast, has been considered a risk for Hollywood, but has held its own at the box office. Town send calls it a “trendsetter.” “1 think that films like A Soldier’s Story are beginning to break the line and say ‘Hey, we can do serious dramas that are entertaining and that people will pay to see'... I think peo ple, and the industry, will begin to look at black actors different ly because of A Soldier’s Story,’ ” he says. Townsend is optimistic about the improving situation for Photo courtesy Columbia Picture* Robert Townsend, who plays Cor poral Ellis in “A Soldier's Story.” says he thinks the Hollywood color barrier is slowly being broken. black actors. Ixm Gosset's role in An Officer And A Gentleman was not written for a black, but he won the role. ‘‘And 1 think it’s going to happen more," says Townsend. As for Townsend himself, he has managed to carve out a foothold in the Hollywood pic ture industry. Following his work in A Soldier's Story, he was offered a three-picture deal with Richard Pryor; the rest of the cast struck similar deals in the industry. So while the color barrier is slowly being broken in Hollywood, the change will take time, says Townsend. But blacks are receiving better and better roles, he says. Townsend sums it up best himself. ‘‘I think it's going to happen more with the advent of A Soldier’s Story because peo ple are beginning to take even more chances." Sean Axmaker wfompani} WORLD’S GREATEST BURGERS Been Studying Hard and Want a Bite? Great Oregon Burger Co. is Open Daily till Midnight Featuring Quality burgers, Sandwiches, Breakfasts and More!! Take a trip through our salad bar ^ at our new location at 460 Coburg Road • 485*6797 Or visit our campus location at 13th Ave. at High St., • 344-5221 Call in your order and we'll have it ready when you arrive V The Pad West presents Hi Tech playing Top 40 music Friday, November 9 $1 cover only! 2165 W. 11th • 342-4585